When I first bought this game out of recommendation from the official Valkyria Forums at SEGA, I was very skeptical about paying £32.50 (About $60) for a "used" copy.

Fortunately, I can safely say that it has been worth it and I regret not paying that much for the "new" copy to fund SEGA's work as it is that good.

Story

Without spoiling the game, the story pretty much starts as a scenario from Belgium's outlook in the history books of the world wars. You are in Gallia, a small country with finite resources and people. Everything is rosy and you feel like this game couldn't possibly be action packed or even mistake it for the PSN Title Flower...but things start getting going when the Home Guard start asking the guy we are following in the cutscene questions about his ethnicity.

After a misunderstanding the two realise that they are under attack, with this guy being given a gun and basically being told to fight on their side. Now this is where the game gets interesting.

The story as a whole has many twists and plots, with how characters come to grow on each other and what tactics they need to use as the War goes on....Gallia is only a small country so they can only carry out missions that benefit the country's terrain rather then the number of soldiers so you feel like SEGA's Overworks Team (otherwise known as Shinobi team) have put a lot of effort into each character, with there being 50 of them, you are bound to have a favourite.

Gameplay

This game plays very uniquely in terms of mixing RTS elements with Tactical RPG ones. If you have played Resonance of Fate before (which is a newer RPG styled in a similar way....but restricted with a cursor instead) then the system should come natural but if not...here is the best way I can describe it;

Firstly, you have badges at the screen, being your turns for each person you move, aim and shoot at the enemy with. The characters are restricted with a bar at the bottom called AP, this AP is used to move around the battlefield...you can take cover (Gears of War style), aim using the trigger and shoot with the opposing trigger...the number of shots, how many to kill the enemy etc are displayed at the top of the screen, giving that RPG feel to the game....characters themselves display their own HP, class and weapon choices on the bottom right side of the screen. It's hard to describe without knowing what to expect but anyway.

The gameplay is top notch, you really have to consider which people to use in a situation because their AP, weapon choice and potential counts (potentials are perks each character has that is unique to them...some have negative effects but can be changed permanently through leveling up). Each story mission can last hours...but the reward of completing each is very satisfying. Leveling up is not traditional...but actually less important since everyone (even reserves) is on the same level depending on what class they are in so no worries when you change character near the end of the game.

Graphics

They are simply gorgeous...the best PS3 animation I have ever seen graced on the console...and I truly belive that it can't be replicated on the 360...I love all my consoles by the way, but Valkyria Chronicles feels at home on the Playstation and I feel that it is a great injustice that the sequels are on the portable...although the second game's mechanics are slightly different then to this game, sacrificing story over missions. If you want an anime based game that is both great in gameplay, story AND graphics (plus a fan of war games), you can't go wrong with this game.

Replay Value

This game has it....once beaten, you can go after the "Ace soldiers that are scattered throughout the story...these soldiers are hard to kill...but drop the best weapons in the entire game, nicknamed the "Ace" Weapons, they are named so after these soldiers, many Valkyria fans remember their first Ace kill in a soldier known as "Ty the Immortal", plus the difficulty setting can be changed and provides a more challenging experience if you feel Normal Mode was "too easy" (Pfft, the story itself is hard on EASY mode!), with DLC also tacked on, you have many great incentives to carry on after Gallia is saved by its citizens (both quirky and loveable).

Overall, people should play this under-appreciated gem...as it's truly a rare case of a great TRPG game on a console, without resorting to boring "take turns" mentality we grew up with in the 90's.

Do yourself a favour and play this game....for GALLIA!

P.S: For Skies of Arcadia fans (see the review in this site as well), Vyse and Aika are playable and Fina is cameo'd as Gallia Squad 7's Medic.